What is sexuality and sexual orientation?

Sexuality is not just about “sex” and certain body parts that are associated with males and females. Sexuality includes sexual orientation, such as who a person is attracted to and whether the person identifies as heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual, as well as their sexual fantasies and attitudes and values related to sex.

Sexual orientation refers to sexual and romantic feelings for people of the same gender, a different gender, or more than one gender. People who identify their sexual orientation as “straight” or “heterosexual” typically feel attracted to people of a different gender than themselves. People who identify as “lesbian” or “gay” typically feel attracted to people of the same gender as themselves. People who identify as “bisexual” typically feel attracted to more than one gender, such as being attracted to both women and men. “Pansexual” is a term used by people who feel attracted to more than one gender and feel that other terms don’t include people who are transgender and gender nonconforming (people who have a gender identity or gender expression that doesn’t match their sex assigned at birth). People who use the term “queer” may use it to mean lesbian, gay, bisexual, or pansexual, or they may use it because other terms don’t quite describe their experiences.

Some people might identify their sexual orientation one way, but experience attractions that don’t match the label they are using. For example, a person might identify as “straight,” but feel attracted to people of the same gender or more than one gender and sometimes act on those attractions. Sexual orientation can also change over time for some people. For example, a person might be attracted only to people of the same gender as themselves, and then later be attracted to more than one gender. This is normal! It just means that sexual orientation is complicated for some people.

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Young Men’s Health (YMH) is produced by the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. The purpose of the website is to provide carefully researched health information to teenage boys and young men.